Negotiation coalitions in group-choice multi-agent systems

In Group-Choice Decision Making (GCDM) where a number of stakeholders are involved in choosing a single solution from a set of available solution options, it is common for the stakeholders to form coalitions during negotiations in order to increase their individual welfare. It is also common to use Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) to automate GCDM processes. In such MAS, agents have to form coalitions like their human counterparts. Within each coalition, the individual agents behave according to the strategies of their clients. In this paper we present a coalition formation model which can employ multiple coalition formation algorithms. The model is motivated by a real-world group-choice multi-agent system that we developed; in the system, agents can form coalitions dynamically based on the similarity between their preferences, and based on the ownership criteria. Finally, this paper presents simulation results that illustrate the operational effectiveness of our coalition formation model.